Pollution in Cebu, Philippines

I've been living in Cebu for several years now. As others have mentioned, it is very polluted in the city, and the air quality is pretty bad unless there is a breeze, which helps. Certainly there are some industrial sources of the pollution but mainly you see older trucks and jeepneys just spewing black diesel smoke out the tailpipe, filling the air with particulates that are very harmful to those nearby. Sometimes it is so thick that it obscures the vehicle, and in the case of the jeepneys, they stop and go constantly, so when they take off again.. more black smoke.

This type of pollution is known to be carcinogenic, and such vehicles would be taken off the road in any other civilized country. There have been attempts to replace the jeepneys with clean buses but the drivers union always stands in the way. It's ironic since they breathe the same air. Sadly, most schools are also along the main roads, so the kids are breathing this and many people have asthma. As in other developing countries, there are also a lot of cooking fires in the evening that also add to the smoke and haze, making it very murky.

In addition to this issue of air pollution, the creeks and estuaries are filled with garbage that has washed downstream or been dumped, and many streets also have trash alongside the road. The people just throw the garbage and don't seem to care. Yes, I see it all the time. Of course it is more difficult when there are no trash cans and few dumpsters, but if they cared it seems they would demand that something be done about these issues. Hopefully they will.

I just got back from a 3 week trip to Cebu. It does have it's good points and bad. My issue is mostly air quality. The city itself is terrible. My friend has a condo in I.T. park and he sweeps a black dust off his floor every other day. OK, I'm from San Diego and the air here is not the best either. But Cebu had my lungs hurting. Crime? I had no problem and we were everywhere. If you are nice to people, don't flash cash and dress like a "tourist" you will be fine. Also, if you can speak Cebuano you will be fine too. Jeepneys?
Never, my friends that live there don't even ride on them. When a taxi is so cheap why bother?
Traffic sucks too. One night we could not get one mile from the business district to I.T. park. Ended up walking it. Not advisable to most tourists for sure. Sidewalk? Are you kidding.
Cebu will only get better in the coming years.